I went to the Malvern meeting this evening. I'll post some details in a day or two, as something's come up that will be occupying my time over the next few days.
I took the 131E from Kennedy, guaranteeing me a seat on a fishbowl bus, and not having to transfer at STC. It took 2-3 minutes longer than the SRT train that left around the same time as the 131E from Kennedy.
Basically, the alignment has been extended to Meadowvale, and the Sheppard East line would replace the 85 route completely. Stop spacing has not changed much at all west of Brimley, but is closer together east of there.
The plan now is to use Malvern garage as the LRV storage facility, at least for now.
SRT now has been planned to be extended right into Malvern Town Centre, there are four possible alignments. If you're going to send three rail transit lines to Malvern, I guess you might as well send one where the people of Malvern are! At least it would improve many commutes better than just ending at Sheppard and Markham. (I still think that a subway extension to STC would have had similar benefits for a similar cost, and is the better solution).
Sheppard East into Don Mills situation has been reduced to two possible options:
- Either tunnel LRT from Brian/Consumers to Don Mills, with a same-level transfer to the Sheppard Line.
- The Subway extension to Consumers is still on the table, with a surface LRT to underground subway connection there. The main reason being that Consumers Business Area makes a lot of sense as an employment node that deserves intensification, and a subway extension would be the best way to promote the city's vision for there.
- Surface connection from Sheppard East to Don Mills or a "shallow" LRT connection with a walk downstairs either from a mezzanine or the bus terminal have been nixed.
One bright side, IMO, is that some attempt was made to mitigate the transfer issue between the two Sheppard East modes. It's not at all ideal, but the worst scenarios there were booted out.
There is also an admission that TC is not meant for long-distance transport. The regional rail/REX idea has been mentioned several times by staff as a the way to serve longer distance trips.
My biggest concern now is that there's little mention of a spur down Brimley or McCowan to STC. The heaviest ridership on Sheppard is west of Kennedy to McCowan, ridership really drops east of there. It would only make sense to run every second LRV to STC.
There are now some interesting urban design sketches and layouts. The boards should be available online for both projects soon.